Willem Dafoe is one of the best actors alive today. Hes always brilliant even in the worst films such as Speed 2 and The Shadow of the Vampire. Hes someone who can elevate even when hes given the best material such as in Affliction, Light Sleeper and Wild at Heart. He admits that segueing back and forth from commercial films, like Spider-Man to a non commercial film such as eXistenZ gives him money, artistic freedom and happiness. But even though hes been rightfully nominated for two Academy Awards he is still modest and down to earth. He knows how lucky he is and we know how lucky we are to see him be brilliant.

Meeting Willem Dafoe in person tells me that even though he has an amazing and warm personality he is still bizarre looking. When he laughs his wiry chest just booms forth this hearty guffaw but when that smile cuts across his face and he makes eye contact with you one can definitely feel a bit off put. His hair was short and spiky and he was dressed in all black. Im not sure whether it was him or Paul Bettany who smoked a cigarette in the bathroom but there was a distinct smell of smoke on both of them

The Reckoning is definitely one the stranger films I think I will see this year. Its 14th Century England, Paul Bettany plays a priest who must leave his village because he slept with a married woman. Along the way he hooks up with a traveling acting group led by Willem Dafoe and joins them. At a small village, there has been a murder which Dafoe and Bettany investigate. When they figure out the truth they decide to reveal it to the people of the village in a play.

Please be forewarned that I was not the only journalist in the room asking Willem Dafoe questions.

Daniel Robert Epstein: Since you played Jesus Christ in The Last Temptation of Christ. Could you talk about The Passion of the Christ?

Willem Dafoe: I've been away and Im aware that there was a lot of press about it, but Ive been in Italy. I remember reading the Frank Rich article in the Herald-Tribune, and other than that Ive only been marginally aware of what's going on. I'm aware that it grossed a lot of money this weekend, but other than that I don't know precisely what the controversy is about. So I can only go back and say, The Last Temptation of Christ was a very important and a very good experience for me. It broke my heart when it didn't get a good release because of the controversy. I am aware that this film has had a good release, so Im a little envious. But other than that, I don't have much more to say.

DRE: Do you think a movie can be done about Jesus Christ without controversy?

WD: You know what? Let's talk about The Reckoning. I hate to be a ball buster, but that's the way it is. Ok? Because otherwise I feel exploited. I'm here to talk about this movie, this is my work. I don't want to get highjacked to a movie that's already on a media juggernaut.

DRE: You play the head of a medieval acting troupe in The Reckoning? Are there added challenges to playing an actor?

WD: I don't think so. I don't know how to do that anyway. But I am an actor, so it's close for me. If the job is partly to personalize what you're doing and make it specific, you got one leg up. Because of some of the themes in this story, like the ways of telling the story, being a part of a company, the line between your life and your work, all that stuff is familiar to me, I know it empirically. So it helps that the real life informs the fiction. That I address all the time with my job.

DRE: Have you ever done a part you don't understand, so you do research?

WD: Often. Most of the time I don't understand. I don't understand until it's all over with and then probably there is even more I don't understand. I think when you approach things; you know what your interest is. You know what you're curious about. You know certain things that you want to come up against. But on some level it's really the audience in the end who decides on what it all means.

DRE: Is what drew you to do this part the fact that you have your own acting troupe [The Wooster Group]?

WD: That was part of it. But I just think the material is very rich. The practical stuff such as [director] Paul McGuigan saying I want you to play this role. This actor Ive worked with before, Paul Bettany, is attached I saw McGuigans previous film Gangster No. 1 and it's got lots of style, it's real compelling and Paul Bettany is really good in it. Then I read the novel and the material is very rich and evocative. I look at the script, and I say, This stuff is interesting. I know where we're going to shoot, all these things come together.

DRE: You've worked with a lot of young people, especially in Spider-Man.

WD: So Im not young anymore. [laughs]

DRE: Do you find that younger people aren't as well trained because of their lack of theater experience?

WD: That's not for me to say. I think there are all kinds of ways to be an actor. There are all kinds of jobs. For me, acting in the theater gave me lots of practice, it was important. Like anything your instincts get better by ritual, repetition, and practice. Your instincts get refined. But I am in no position to give anybody advice, because I know nothing. Im not being falsely modest. I really think, for different people, there are different processes, and I only know mine. Ive seen people with very different processes have very good results. I've seen people with processes similar to mine have bad results. So go figure.

DRE: Youre in amazing physical shape in this movie. Especially where you literally bend over backwards in the training montage. Did you work out for this movie?

WD: No, it wasn't so much for this movie. It's just that Im a yoga practitioner and that's a part of my life. I'm also a theater performer and Im a physical performer. It's important to stay physically strong and flexible. That's what I do. So when we did this, there was a montage so that was something that I could contribute.

DRE: What do you like about yoga?

WD: Its something that you get very self-conscious about, because on one hand, Im proud that Im able to keep the practice open. On the other hand that kind of pride will corrupt your practice. On the most superficial level and on the most psychological and spiritual level I'm really proud of it, but I can't and I shouldn't be [laughs].

DRE: You once said you're perceived as an eccentric actor who will star in little films and is good at conventional roles as a result.

WD: That's probably something I said 15 years ago. Once you say anything it gets on the internet and it's with you forever like an inscription on a tombstone. Then there's no context for it. Just by time, Ive been evolving.

Particularly in the commercial aspect of movies if something works, they want to have you do it over and over and over again. Then when they get sick of you, they kick you out. Well, Im interested in a long career; Im interested in mixing it up. So with time I think these things come together in that, so I feel that's incidental. But in answer to your question, yeah, I probably said that.

DRE: Do you like playing heroes or villains better?

WD: I like characters with strong actions. I also like characters that have a kind of moral crisis or crises. I like that transformation. I know Im attracted to marginal characters. I think sometimes heroes and villains they meet about here [brings two fingers together]. So Im conscious of both distinctions, but the whole point of character is that you deny those distinctions. Certain times you play a character; you try to suggest what their function is and then find out what is true about them. You play it from the other side. But I probably like villains better because their stories are told less. Marginal lives, different ways of saying things, with ways that threaten the status quo. I want people to see movies. I want them to be successful; I want all kinds of things. But at the same time when Im dealing with them, Im attracted to both sides.

DRE: This was definitely a different kind of movie. Was there innovation on the set?

WD: Oh, all the time, on everything. In particular in the theatre is where innovation that happens. But films are collaborative. I don't claim anything; Im just part of things. Ive been involved in movies that I think have had some sort of social impact on changing peoples' minds about something. The one that pops to mind immediately is something like Platoon. Because you got to remember, when that film was made, the state of the art war film was Rambo. So to make this low budget movie about Vietnam and have it get out there and reach a broad audience, clearly caused some kind of rethinking about the experience in Vietnam. For a lot of Vietnam vets, who had dealt with a lot of rejection and shame, it let people have a different take on who they were and what they went through. I did feel that. I did feel that people had written these guys off as either victims or killers or horrible people. All of a sudden, they were more empathetic. Because it had the authority of a vet [Oliver Stone] telling it and just as a work of entertainment and of art, it had some usefulness and some authority to it. So I think it does make a difference. You can effect, you can change people's minds about things by making them see it in different ways. That's what movies are all about.

DRE: Besides acting and yoga what do you do when you arent working?

WD: I like to work. I don't do much else. I like to travel. I just got back from Italy.

DRE: You shot the new Wes Anderson film, The Life Aquatic, there. How is that going?

WD: Life Aquatic is finished. It was a great experience and I hope it's a great movie. Wes Anderson is a great filmmaker who is very personal and very strong. I think he made the movie he wanted to make, which is really quite amazing. Good cast. So we'll see, I think it might be out in December.

DRE: You were part of a phenomenon with Finding Nemo. What was that like? Is there going to be a sequel?

WD: I haven't heard that. But it was good. I love these people that made Finding Nemo. They were really committed to what they were doing and they were good at what they did. Im happy for its success. I don't want to be modest but Im going in to do voiceovers maybe six, seven times, eight times or maybe even 10 times, over a three-year period. I'm going to a studio, and the director, who knows the material and has been living with it for five years, hands me a sheet of paper with dialog on it. He explains the situation and I read the lines quite exactly. So Im really just contributing my voice and giving them variations of each line. Im rough material and it's really well worth it. I get to help them which Im happy to do. It's a good experience. It's not what I would do all the time, but it was nice. But Im not part of that film much. They do tape you and watch your expressions and that helps the animators to find the language of the character. Which is pretty amazing stuff.

DRE: Was it difficult making The Reckoning?

WD: Movies are hard work, but you're sitting around and pretending its 14th century London in the winter. It was pretty easy to live in because there was great camaraderie. Whenever you make a location movie, particularly one with harsh elements, there's a lot of time to find a common ground. Careers, private lives and all those things got out of the way pretty quick. So we made a world that's all committed to the movie. So it's really pretty sweet.

DRE: What do you do in The Aviator?

WD: I really play a cameo. I was happy to do it because I was on a set with Marty [Scorsese] again, and I love him. And I like Leonardo DiCaprio but it's basically a day's work, something to do.